This invention relates to shoelaces.
Most shoelaces nowadays, other than leather laces, are made by braiding or knitting natural or synthetic yarns. Good laces have high bendability, and good strength and abrasion resistance. The ability to receive dyes is important as well. As with any cordage, shoelaces should hold a knot well, yet must untie easily, whether wet or dry.
While traditional shoelaces are amply suited to their intended task, there remain avenues for improvement. For example, it would be desirable to have a laces which did not absorb water, and lacked interstices in which soil may lodge. Such a lace would be expected to stay clean longer, and to retain its knotting and untying characteristics in rain and snow. It would also be good to have a particularly soft shoelace, both for purely aesthetic reasons and for added comfort. Strength should not be compromised in order to obtain softness, however.
From a manufacturing standpoint, it would be convenient not to have to weave or knit yarns to produce shoelaces. If the surface were continuous, rather than interrupted by yarn interfaces, detailed surface printing or other ornamentation would be possible. To produce shoelaces by extrusion would be simplicity itself, and could be expected to produce consequent economies.
Finally, a shoelace having a novel look and feel could be aesthetically attractive.